Northwestern University Athletics
Upon Further Review: The Myslenski Illinois Breakdown
11/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 22, 2010
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
• Twenty-seven. That was the number of tackles the 'Cats missed in their loss to Penn State, and that was bad. Thirty-one. That was the number they missed in their Wrigley Field loss to Illinois, and that was worse.
"Obviously, it's not a good stat to have," safety Brian Peters would say of that number on Monday afternoon. "But. It's just us trusting our technique and, again, our ability to execute and filling the holes we're supposed to and closing space. It (the defense) is very-technically based. We've got to wrap up and focus on us being physical at the point of attack and getting them down at all costs."
Was the bigger issue against the Illini simply missing tackles or technical, not being in the right spot at the right time?
"It's a mixture of both. We've just got to execute. We had a great game plan going in. We've just got to be in the right gap at the right time and make the plays."
• Tackling was very much the topic du jour on Monday, which was hardly a surprise after the Illini gashed the 'Cats for 519 net rushing yards. Both their running back Mikel Leshoure and their coach Ron Zook later suggested some of their success came on cutbacks that took advantage of the aggressiveness of the 'Cat linebackers. So were they flying to the ball too fast?
"No, no," Pat Fitzgerald said Monday. "You mean being over-aggressive and being out of position? That wasn't the problem on Saturday. No. No. We had some wrong fits. But (we weren't) being too aggressive."
Another suggestion last Saturday, this one offered by 'Cat defensive end Vince Browne, was that some of his team's defenders were trying to do too much, were looking to strip the ball instead of simply tackling.
"I think there were a couple times late in the game. . .," Fitzgerald said when asked if that had indeed been an issue. "But early, not really. Early, we just missed."
Well, then, could the issue have been a matter of scheme, of not having enough defenders in the box?
"We had enough in the box. That wasn't the issue. The issue was fitting right and tackling and getting off blocks. Kind of the ABCs of defense. You've got to fit right and you've got to get off blocks and you've got to tackle. If you can't get through A, B and C, you know what? D to Z is going to be bad, and that's what happened."
• Much of this, again not surprisingly, recalled remarks made following the 'Cat loss to Penn Sate, and the next Saturday they went out against Iowa and tackled well and upset the thirteenth-ranked Hawkeyes. So, Fitzgerald was asked, why didn't those lessons so-obviously learned stick through the game against the Illini?
"To me it was ankles (ankle tackling), it was aggressiveness. We had guys in the hole, we had guys unblocked in the hole, and for whatever reason we patted our feet instead of being aggressive like we were against Iowa. . . We've got to be more assertive, more aggressive. I'd love to be able to tell you why. But the guys, instead of looking at the (why of the) problem, said, 'We're going to solve it. We're going to go out and have a great week of practice.'"
• Was the film session of that Illini game one of the tougher ones he has watched? "Maybe more one of the tougher film sessions to watch when I watched it on Saturday night when I went home. Yeah," Fitzgerald admitted. "When we get with the guys, we've got to teach 'em and coach 'em in the areas we've got to correct and fix. But, yeah, when you get back home after that kind of atmosphere. . .to see our inability to tackle, it was frustrating. But the last time we went through this we came back and tackled really well. So we've got to draw back and pull on our previous experiences."
• The final word on this topic, from Fitzgerald: "You've just got to show up at the ball carrier in a bad mood and get the ball on the ground."
• The 'Cats, on Saturday, held the ball for only 18:44, which meant their defense was putting in some overtime against the Illini. That was another point not lost on Fitzgerald. "We've got to pick each other up and play better team football," he said. "You can't go three-and-out. We can't have that discrepancy in time of possession. Our offense is built on timing, rhythm and possessing the football. It doesn't have to be 50 minutes to 10. But we've got to possess the ball and wear people out by reps. We want to get a lot of reps. To our opponent's credit over the weekend, they were able to get us off the field and our defense spent way too much time on the field. That's a recipe for disaster in our formula."
• That offense, of course, was choreographed by redshirt freshman Evan Watkins, who often looked tentative in his first start for the injured Dan Persa. The longest drive he would guide lasted just 3:29 and six of the 'Cats possessions ended in 95 seconds or less (not counting the one that ended the game or the one that ended with Mike Trumpy's 80-yard touchdown run). "I think he settled down as the game went along," Fitzgerald said Monday when asked about Watkins. "In your first collegiate game. . .you try to talk to guys about understanding how much faster it's going to be and the sense of urgency you need to have. I thought after the first couple of series he settled in. So I thought he handled the in-game speed pretty well as he went along. Then when we came out in the second half, he had to kind of go back to what he learned again and it took him a couple of series. So he'll be much better this week than he was last week. Same thing with (true freshman) Kain (Colter, who also took a few snaps)."
"We missed on a lot of opportunities. We didn't execute as well as we could have," Watkins himself said when asked what he saw of himself on tape. "There were a lot of plays that we could have made that would have effected the game."
• The superback Drake Dunsmore had this to say about Watkins on Monday. "I thought every day last week he improved a little bit. I know he's really stepped up vocally and the way he's carrying himself around the offense, with the O line, with the receivers. I know this week we're making it an emphasis to come together, watch film together and make it all about us again. I think we lost sight of that."
How'd that happen?
"It can be tough going through a long season. Guys have different obligations, guys have different things going on. It's nice for us, we have three games before school starts. For those first three games, it's all about football, and all the guys are sticking together, they're practicing together, watching film together. I think we got away from that a little bit. Like I said, we're trying to focus in on that again this week."
• Fitzgerald's hope was to redshirt both Kolter and Trevor Siemian, the other true freshman quarterback on his roster. But, with Persa's injury, he was forced to burn the shirt of the former, whom he described this way on Monday. "He's got a lot of swagger, he's got a lot of belief and confidence in himself, and that's what I like about him. He was a dynamic playmaker in high school. . .and he's got great leadership qualities. I feel the same way about Trevor. It just felt like, after talking to (offensive coordinator) Mick (McCall) and our offensive staff about the direction we wanted to go, the similarities between Trevor and Evan are pretty close. Their skill sets are similar. Kane presents a different skill set and that's what we decided to go with."
• About that skill set: "I think he's got as good jukes as anybody on the team," said Dunsmore. "He's a quick little guy. Just like Dan, you've got to be ready to stay on your block as long as you can. You never know when they're going to break a few tackles."
"I'll vouch for Kain too," said Peters. "He's got some wiggles."
• Persa, by the way, has had his surgical stitches removed and is now in a walking boot. As for his rehab? "It's going to be a slow road," said Fitzgerald. "The unfortunate thing with injuries like that and surgery is you've got to learn patience. That's not a good thing for Dan. He's not a very patient guy. He wanted to get in and start doing some rehab on some other bumps and bruises he had and our medical staff said, 'Chill out, will ya? Relax. Take a couple weeks off.' He was chomping at the bit to get in this morning."
Will he be back for spring ball?
"It's way too early to tell. Everything I've heard has been according to plan. . . I'm not worried about his work ethic or commitment to rehab. We're probably going to have to keep our eye on him and make sure he's not doing too much."
• And finally, on a lighter note: One of the `Cat highlights at Wrigley was the interception Peters returned for a touchdown into the dreaded east end zone, where he was downed by teammate Nate Williams before he could crash into the bleacher wall. Would he, in fact, have intentionally run into that wall? "There was a good possibility," Peters said with a grin that can rightly be described as mischievous. "It's probably a good thing Nate tackled me."
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